Sheet metal cutter



July 17, 195i avosem ETAL 2,560,673

SHEET METAL CUTTER Filed Ji11yi0, 1946 I Invent/11's /6 0 y V058 E war P/Zi A Ito rneys Patented July 17, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHEET METAL CUTTER.

Roy Vosen and Edward Philippi, Coeur dAlene, Idaho Application July 10, 1946; Serial, No. 682,570

(Cl. 30i--257) 1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to an improved construction of shears for cutting sheet metal and which is especially intended and adapted for cutting sheet metal pipes or conduits, such as stove or furnace pipes, as well as fiat sheet metal stock.

More particularly, it is the primary aim of the present invention to provide a sheet metal cutter which will not become'clogged by sheared fragments of the metal and which will sever a ribbon of metal from the work leaving smooth sheared edges which are not distorted by engagement with the tool.

Still another aim of the invention is to provide a sheet metal shears which is so constructed and arranged that the sheared edges of the work will straddle one blade of the shears and pass entirely under the remainder of the shears to prevent injury to the hands of the user and to prevent the sheared edges from being bent or distorted in passing around the tool.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the sheet metal shears;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary top Plan view thereof;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 33 of Figure 2, and

Figures 4 and 5 are cross sectional views taken substantially along the planes as indicated by the lines 44 and 55, respectively, of Figure 3.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the improved cutting shears in its entirety is designated generally 6 and includes a pair of lever members, designated generally I and 8 having handle portions 9 and I0, respectively, and jaw portions, designated generally I I and I2, respectively.

The jaw I2 of the lower lever member 8 includes a substantially flat, relatively wide portion I3 which is downwardly offset relatively to the handle portion I0 and which is provided with a flat underside I 4 and a sharpened outer, free end I5, for purposes which will hereinafter become apparent. The substantially flat jaw portion I3 merges with a perpendicularly thickened shank portion I6 which extends upwardly and rearwardly therefrom and which merges at its opposite end with the forward end of the handle member In and no part of which is disposed below the level of the underside I4 of the jaw portion I3.

The jaw portion I3 is provided with a longitudinal slot H which extends rearwardly from intermediate of the ends thereof and which communicates with a longitudinal slot I8 in the shank portion I6; both of said slots being disposed in a vertical plane with respect to the shears 6. As clearly illustrate-d in Figure 2, the slot I8 is substantially wider than the slot H, for purposes which will hereinafter become apparent.

The handle member 9 of the lever I is provided with a downwturned, bifurcated inner end I9 which extends into the slot I8 and the slot, formed by the furcations, is disposed parallel to the slots I1 and I8. A separate blade 29, formin a part of the jaw II, is provided with a shank portion 2! which extends into the slot of the bifurcated portion I9 and which is connected thereto by means of a fastening 22 which extends through the furcations of the portion I9 and through the blade shank 2 I. A pivot pin 23, pref-- erably in the form of a nut and bolt, extends through the shank portion I6 and through the furcations of the portion l9 and the blade shank 21 for pivotally connecting the lever portions I and 8 and for cooperating with the fastening 22 to prevent pivotal movement of the blade 29 relatively to the handle portion I9.

The blade 20, forming a part of the movable lower jaw II, is provided with an underside 24 which is inclined upwardly and toward the free end l5 of the jaw I2 and which merges with a substantially fiat upper surface 25 of the blade 20 to form a pointed upper end. The fiat upper surface 25 abuts flush against the underside I 4 of the jaw I2 when the jaws II and I2 are in closed position, as best seen in Figure 3. The surface 25 engages against the surface I4 forwardly of the slot I'I. Rearwardly of the surface 25, the blade 29 is provided with an upwardly offset portion 26 which extends upwardly through the slot I1 and through the forward part of the slot I8, when the jaws are in closed positions. The upper surface 21 of the blade portion 26 is inclined downwardly and toward the free end of the jaws and the side edges 28 thereof form the cutting edges of the blade 2| and jaw I I. The upper edge 21 includes a rearwardly disposed serrated portion 29.

As best seen in Figure 4, the blade 20 tapers in thickness slightly toward its bottom edge 24 and the slot I! is tapered slightly from the upper to the underside of the bar I3 so that it is slightly narrower at the underside of the bar than at the upperside thereof. The bottom edges 30 of the slot [1 constitute the cutting edges thereof and cooperate with the edges 28 of the blade 20, which latter edges are spaced apart a distance slightly less than the edges 30 to pass therethrough and to execute a cutting operation in conjunction therewith.

The handle member 9 is provided with a depending lug 3| forming a stop to engage the handle member [9 when the surface 25 is in engagement with the surface [4 to prevent undue pressure being exerted on the jaw parts by the handle parts 9 and II].

From the foregoing it will be readily apparent that th cutting tool or shears 6 is capable of efliciently executing a cutting operation on sheet metal material either in the form of flat stock, tubular stock or stock of rectangular cross section such as duct work. By swinging the handle portions 9 and I outwardly of one another, the blade will be swung downwardly with respect to the jaw 12 so that the surface 21, including the serrated portion 29, will be disposed beneath the underside [4 of the bar l3 and out of engagement with the slot I! or 18. The material to be out, not shown, is positioned between the jaws II and I2 and against the undersurface 14 of the jaw [2. The handle member 9 is then swung downwardly and toward the handle member ID to cause the blade 20 to return to its position of Figures 1 and 3. As the edges 28 of the blade 20 enter the slot [7 between the edges 30 thereof, the adjacent edges 28 and 30 will execute parallel cuts in the sheet metal material of a width equal to the widest, upper part of the blade 29 and the ribbon of material, not shown, thus cut, will pass upwardly through the slot 11. As this operation is repeated the spaced sheared edges of th sheet metal stock will pass along on opposite sides of the blade 20 and as said blade is tapered toward its lower edge, the space between said sheared edges will be slightly greater than the width of the lower part of the blade 20 so that the sheared edges will not be bent or distorted by the blade. It will be noticed that all other parts of the shears 6 are located above the level of the undersurface l4 so that said sheared edges will not contact any other part of the tool 6 and therefore will not be subject to any bending or distorting.

In actual operation, the lever member 8 is held fixed and the lever member 1 is swung relatively thereto on the pivot 23 so that the member 8 forms a guide which is supported by engagement of its undersurface 14 with the upper surface of the material being cut. The serrated portion 29 is provided to prevent the material being cut from slipping outwardly of the jaws at the commencement of each cutting operation.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claim.

We claim:

In a sheet metal cutting shears, a pair of pivotally connected lever members each including a handle portion and a jaw portion, the jaw portion of one of said lever members comprising a substantially flat bar provided with a longitudinally disposed slot offset downwardly with respect to the handle portion thereof, the handle portion of the other lever member having a downturned inner end extending through the rear portion of said slot and pivotally mounted therein, the jaw of said last mentioned lever member extending forwardly from said downturned, pivotally mounted portion and including an upwardly offset portion disposed for movement through the forward part of said slot and having an upper surface provided with side edges forming cutting edges for cooperation with the lower side edges of the forward portion of the slot, when the jaws are moved from opened toward closed positions, said last mentioned jaw having a downwardly ofiset upper surface at its forward end for engaging the underside of the first mentioned jaw, forwardly of the slot, when the jaws are in fully closed positions for clamping the material between the jaws at the conclusion of each shearing stroke of the tool.

ROY VOSEN. EDWARD PHILIPPI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 567,722 Pike Sept. 15, 1896 1,086,286 Fyhrie Feb. 3, 1914 1,716,180 Marler June 4, 1929 2,357,197 Hood Aug. 29, 1944 

